Frank lambert



(No Model.) l

F. LAMBERT.

REGISTER.

Patentedec. 2o; 1887-.

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' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK LAMBERT, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO JOHN THOMSON, OF SAME PLACE.

REGISTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 374,976, dated December 20, 1887.

Application filed July 15, 1887. Serial No. 244,405. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK LAMBERT, of Brooklyn, Kings county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Registers, of which the following isa specification.

This is an invention in registers and relates particularly to that class usually employed in connection with water and gas meters.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan View of the dial and hands. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the plate upon which the operating parts are mounted, the dial having been removed. Fig. 3 is also a plan View of the main plate, but viewed from the opposite side of that shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a vertical transverse section and elevation, and Fig. 5 is a detached detail view of one of the pawls and adiagram of its action.

The essential object of this invention is to produce a register in which the main indexing-hands have a common direction of rotation and the component parts of which shall be of such form as to be capable of being produced by the cheapest and most simple processes of manufacture.

The construction and operation of the device are as follows:

Upon the plate 6 and bearing directly against thelower surface thereof are mounted four toothed wheels, 7, 8, 9, and 10. FiXedly secured to the wheels and projecting upward and having a bearing in the said plate are four studs or pivots, 11, the outer extensions of which carry the short indexing-hands e. On the upper surface of the plate are four springwashers, 12, having a bearing upon the studs 1l, and maintained in intimate contact with the face of the plate by means of the pins 13, which pass through the studs. Thus the action of the spring-washers is to draw the wheels upward in close contact with thelower surface ofthe plate, wherefore the wheels will resist rotation to the limit of the friction produced by the washer. The washers are preferably formed triangular in shape, as shown in the drawings.

Mounted in the journal-bearing formed in the center of the plate, as 14, is the main driving-gear 15, the shaft 16 of which extends upward and carries the primary or unit indexhand h. Fixedly secured to the gear-wheel and projecting upward therefrom is a pin, 17, the function of which is to engage the teeth of the primary toothed wheel 7. Upon the toothed wheels 7, 8,and 9 are pivotally mounted three pawls, 18, 19, and 20-that is, one pawl to each wheel. In the pawls are formed cams or slots 21, which are engaged and guided by the headed pins 22, the said pins being ixedly secured to the plate. The cams are of such form as to effect a quick engagement and disengagement of the teeth of the ratchet-wheels.

In the actual operation of the device it is presumed that a pinion is adapted to engage the teeth of the gear-wheel, causing it to rotate in the proper direction. Thus for each complete revolution of the gear-wheel the pin 17 will intermesh with and cause the toothed wheel 7 to rotate through a space equal to one of its teeth or the tenth part of one revolution.

In the illustration here shown the hand k indicates units up to the Sum ofone hundred while the smaller hands, e, indicate successively in hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, and hundreds of thousands, reaching a total reading of one million. Consequently, in the combination here assumed, each ofthe toothed wheels requires to have ten teeth, as shown. Ten revolutions of the gear-wheel will impart one rotation to the wheel 7. The effect of this is to produce a complete reciprocating action in the pawl 18. The outer extensions of the pawls are bent inward, as at 24, the points coming in eontact,or nearly so,with the lower face of the plate. The reciprocating action of the pawl 18 causes the point thereof to engage one of the teeth of the wheel 8, causing it to rotate the space of one of its teeth. Thus it will require one hundred revolutions of the gearwheel 15 to rotate the wheelS one revolution, which action of the said wheel 8, by means of the pawl 19, will impart the tenth part of one revolution to the wheel 9, and in like manner motion will be imparted to the wheel l() by means of the pawl 20.

In broad and general terms I designate the apparatus just described as a .step-by-step gear-train,77 the pawl and cam with pin operating therein performing the function ofinter mediate gearing.

The arrangement of the several parts is such ing the path ofthe pin.

` metal.

that when all of the hands point to Fig. 9 of l their respective graduates the continued inov tion of the gear-wheel,carrying the unit hand it forward to zero, will cause all of the indexhands e to operate together in one common direction of rotation, and during the same period of time passing from 9 to O. Thus it is evident that the only opportunity offered for reading the register in error is limited to the measurement of about ten units, and this will make clear the obj ect of constructing the pawlsin such manner as to act upon the toothed wheels very quickly and in unison. In the present illustration the unit-hand h rotates in an opposite direction to the common direction of rotation of the hands e,- but this is immaterial, in that the unit-hand is seldom read in actual practice.

The main gear-wheel l5 rotates upon a center, 25, eccentric to the center 26, from which latter center is developed the bearings of the toothed wheels, as in dotted line 26. The object of this is to permitthe proper engagement of the pin 17 with the toothed wheel 7 only, and to prevent the engagement of the said pin 17 with any of the remaining wheels of the series, as shown by the dotted line r,represent- In this wise all of the toothed wheels may lie Iin the same horizontal plane iiush with the plate.

Ihe operation of a toothed wheel by any one of the pawls is effected While the point of such pawl is traveling from 0 to l, Fig. 5, which, it will be observed, is a space greater than that of the pitch of the teeth of the toothed wheels. In this wise there is no nicety of adjustment required, nor will wear be liable to affect the proper operation of the several parts, the point of the pawl carrying its corresponding toothed wheel the proper distance and then passing on and out of engagement.

It will be observed that in consequence of the described construction and relation of parts the action of the register becomes absolutely positive, developing the minimum of frictionin operation,while yet accomplishing the equally-important manufacturing advantage-namely, that the toothed wheels and pawls are of such form that they may be stamped and finished by punching 'from sheet The studs or pivots are also duplicates of each other, so that on the whole there is little or no multiplication of operations in manufacturing or difficulty in assembling.

I desire to point out that the form of the cam 2l may be changed t0 suit different conditions and requirements, and do not therefore limit myself to the precise form of that shown in the drawings, which, however, is an approximately exact representation of the form necessary to produce a quick action of the toothed wheels,whereby to cause all to operate together at the proper time, and also to cause the point of the pawl to travel entirely' free from the teeth of the wheel during its return movement, as sce the return-path of point 2 3 4 of diagram Fig. 5; nor do I limit myself to the extent of train-work or the relation thereof, as it is equally evident that the wheels may be disposed in other forms than that of a circle, and may be reduced to the least combination of two toothed wheels with an intervening pawl, or may be indenitely increased.

Vhat I claim is- 1. The combination, with primary operating mechanism, as the gear l5 and pin 17, of the toothed wheel, as 7, the pawl pivotally mounted thereon, the cam formed in the pawl, a fixed pin engaging the cam, and a correspondinglytoothed wheel, as S, arranged to be engaged by the point of the pawl and to be rotated intermittingly thereby, substantially as described.

2. The combination, in series, of aplurality of toothed wheels, each carrying a pawl, pivotally mounted,having a slot or cam engaged by a fixed pin, the point of each pawl acting upon the teeth ofthe contiguous wheel, whereby upon the complete revolution of any one wheel carrying a pawl the next wheel of the series will be rotated through a space equal to the pitch of one of its teeth, substantially as described.

3. The pawl having a cam, as 2l, in combination with the wheel upon which it is pivotally mounted and by which it is actuated, the fixed guide-pin, as 22, and a toothed wheel to be operated by the tooth of the pawl, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FRANK LAMBERT.

Witnesses:

JOHN THoMsoN, WM. THOMSON.

IOO 

